Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Full-Time, Exempt, Hybrid

(4 days/week in office minimum)

About Us

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” - Nelson Mandela

We believe that even the biggest problems can be broken down into small, achievable steps. Poverty and access to justice are part of the same problem. And we’re solving this problem together.

At Open Door Legal (ODL), we’re pioneering the country’s first system of universal access to civil legal representation to dramatically reduce poverty and prove that the law really can belong to all of us. We’ve grown 150x in 10 years, and in the next 2 years, we hope to finish scaling across San Francisco.

To achieve this goal, we’ve created an award-winning and best-in-class legal aid organization full of passionate, motivated, gritty, thoughtful, and team-oriented people. We believe that injustice is the heart of poverty, and we're looking for someone to join us in ensuring justice for all.

Overview of Position

For many stepping into our office, seeking legal services is a vulnerable and significant first step to leading a healthier and more whole life. A legal case is rarely just a legal problem.

Someone facing eviction, a custody dispute, or a benefits denial may also be dealing with trauma, unstable housing, health problems, or the stress of not knowing what comes next. Those pressures can make it hard to keep appointments, get to court, or stay involved while the case is progressing.

We are hiring a Licensed Clinical Social Worker to ensure that our clients and guests feel safe, heard, supported, and empowered from the moment they come in to access our services through the legal process. We know that helping clients get through those challenges is part of getting them good outcomes.

We’re hiring our Licensed Clinical Social Worker to bring clinical care into the center of our legal work. You’ll work alongside our attorneys and paralegals.

You’ll meet clients where they are, assess their psychosocial needs, support them through crises, and build treatment plans that go hand in hand with their legal goals. You’ll help our legal teams see when life circumstances are affecting a case and what to do about it.

You’ll also connect clients to housing, healthcare, mental health and benefits resources across San Francisco.

You’ll also help shape how this work grows at ODL. You’ll build our MSW internship program and supervise and mentor up to three interns.

You’ll set up the systems that show how clinical support changes case outcomes, and you’ll lead trainings that help our whole staff practice trauma-informed, culturally humble client care.

If you want to use your clinical skills where they directly affect people’s access to justice, and to build something new as you go, we’d love to hear from you. This role reports directly to our Associate Director of Community Engagement.

Responsibilities

Embody our mission of universal access to civil legal aid and work with the team to make sure that the civil litigation needs of all clients in our service area are met by ourselves or others and Open Door Legal gets good legal outcomes and maintains high client satisfaction.

Provide direct clinical support and psychosocial assessments to clients navigating legal matters, in coordination with attorneys and paralegals. This may also include providing supportive crisis management, delivering clinical intervention strategies to improve client engagement and case outcomes, and coordinating with the legal teams to discuss where psychosocial factors may be affecting legal outcomes.

Supervise, train, and evaluate MSW-level interns, which includes managing any requirements from academic institution partners.

Develop and maintain a referral network of community-based resources (housing, mental health, benefits, healthcare).

• Support organizational training on trauma-informed and culturally humble practice for legal staff.
• Provide services and support to our low-income clients with sensitivity and awareness to cultural, socio-economic, and disability barriers to service and can skillfully navigate difficult or tense situations.
• Embrace and embody our values of teamwork, grit, caring, passion, and dynamism.

Requirements

• Active, current license as LCSW registered with the CA Board of Behavioral Sciences.
• At least one (1) year of clinical experience post-licensure working with adult populations.

Must genuinely enjoy and be motivated by working with low-income clients, many of whom are people of color, and be able to work effectively with clients impacted by trauma (emotional, mental, and physical), struggling with substance use disorder, and/or who are chronically unhoused.

Strong time management skills to effectively supervise and perform clinical support in a fast-paced environment and high-volume practice.

• Show an enthusiasm for and commitment to self-learning and professional development.
• Must be able and willing to work out of one or more of our office locations at least four (4) days/week.

High level of comfortability learning and using technology and case management systems. We use Salesforce, Dropbox, and the Google Suite.

Active demonstration of cultural humility and sensitivity to barriers low-income San Franciscans face when attempting to access the justice system.

Must be legally authorized to work in the U. S without sponsorship.

Bonus Points

Comfort conducting sessions with clients in either Spanish or Cantonese without assistance (this comes with a slight compensation increase).

• Experience working with low-income and vulnerable populations.
• Experience working in a high-volume direct services legal aid or similar environment.
• Having lived a significant period of your life in San Francisco proper, specifically, a connection to the Bayview/Hunters Point, Excelsior, Sunset, Western Addition, Tenderloin, or Mission neighborhoods.
• Starting compensation (annually) is $95,500-$111,500 based on experience.

Benefits

Loan Repayment Assistance - for staff pursuing 10-year public interest debt forgiveness, we will pay the minimum payment on all qualifying loans so that you don’t need to worry about student loan debt (this is a conditional benefit).

• Medical/Dental/Vision Plan offerings at 100% coverage
• Generous paid time off (four weeks vacation and two weeks sick/care)
• Flexible work hours
• Generous paid parental leave
• 401K/Retirement Account

We believe everyone is always learning. We financially invest in individual professional development for each staff member which can include mentorships, coaching, and learning opportunities (conferences, workshops, etc.).

We are a fun and hard-working office with best-in-class technology solutions for anyone who’s passionate about making a meaningful and measurable difference.

• Ideal Start Date: December 2026
• Applications submitted prior to November 18, 2026 will receive priority consideration.

Open Door Legal is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer.

We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics.

We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at whitney[at]opendoorlegal[dot]org.